What are you missing out on?

This past week was a crazy one! I had several major assignments and tests due in several of my classes. By the way, I know I am new at this blogging thing but sometimes I feel like I am typing a diary entry! So to avoid that I am just gonna avoid the pointless small talk. In my last post, I went over the minor details of my life but, for this post I thought I would confess a problem, an addiction, and a sin that I deal with: FOMO.

Also known as: Fear Of Missing Out.

I don’t care how old you are, whether you’re a hipster or a mom (not suggesting that moms can’t be hipsters), a college student or a kindergartener; I bet that at some point in your life you felt left out after hearing a great story from your friends or watching a 10 second clip on snapchat. You realized you missed a fun event and your mood instantly changed. Yes, the struggle is real for me too, no actually I struggle with this so severely I have shed a few tears (and I do not cry easy). Personally, I want to be apart of everything! Like if I get invited to go on a road trip and to a birthday party and a movie night, my brain suddenly goes into super planner mode and tries to place the puzzle pieces together so I can attend it all. (Disclaimer: I am in no way suggesting that this happens all the time… I defiantly have weekends that I don’t get invited to anything)

Well in the day and time we are in, it’s hard to avoid the great story or a roll of pictures to keep yourself from missing out- Am I right?! Okay well here is how I have come to terms with my problems… lol well this particular problem.

1. Ditch your phone! (Another thing mom would say that she is totally right about) Social media can be so hard on the heart sometimes. I know you’re staring at your screen right now thinking: “WHAT?! Ditch the thing I spend more time with than my bible?” That’s right! A college student is telling you to put the cell phone down. I like to try to tell myself that if I spend an hour in my bible and an hour on homework, I “earned” an hour on my phone. How silly is that?? By staring at my phone I am probably missing out on meeting a new friend or sharing the gospel! (also… think of why texting and driving has become such a big issue lol – just answered that problem) Just saying………

2. Expectations, expectations, oh those expectations! Am I the only one that sets my expectations so high that when my out of this world bar isn’t hit, it ruins my mood for the entire day? (everyone better be nodding their head right now- Jesus is watching) Let’s take a second to remember Matthew, he was a tax collector before he was one of Jesus’ disciples. His expectations were to be hated by the world- but then Jesus saw his potential! Okay… so we are getting little off track and I am sort of twisting his story but still. If we live our lives with the only expectation to live for Christ, we will never be let down because He is the only constant.

3. Stop caring what people think. I bet you’re reading this a thinking, “Psssh.. I don’t care what people think, she’s crazy” (remember: that Jesus is watching.) This is the worst part about FOMO for me because I want to be in the pictures, I want people to know I have friends, that I am fun, and that I can share a memory with them. And of course I want to score that perfect instagramable picture! Can I say something blunt? (this will probably become a usual thing) NONE OF THAT IS ETERNAL. We will not be fulfilled until we focus our lives on him.

So… people, if anyone actually reads this, put down your phones, lower your expectations, and care about your relationship with the man upstairs. He loves you so much. He doesn’t care what your weekend plans are, He wants you to be so in love with Him, that you forget to check your news feed. We really should have Fear of Missing Our Relationship with Him (FOMORWH) Yeah, I think that’ll catch on.

Ok.. well I think I have said enough…

(PSA: I am working on taking my own advice… So, we can all get through it together. Oh, and mom- I promise I plan in studying.)